“Do the authorities at Washington realize the fact that there
is very great danger of wide-spread anarchy and bloodshed?
Do they realize that it is the supineness and imbecility, or
worse, with which the Freedmen’s Bureau has been conducted at
this point, that is the cause of danger, and, it may be, of
much bloodshed? God knows we speak in all sincerity, and we
believe we speak the sentiment of nine tenths of the loyal men
of Memphis.
“When colored men have remonstrated against injustice,--against
the very discriminations against freedmen that the War
Department declared should not exist,--they have been told,
‘If you damned niggers think I am going to give you any rights
that you had not under the old State laws, you are damnably
mistaken.’ This may not be exactly literal, but it is very
nearly so. When colored people have asked for wages hardly
earned in the cotton-field, but not paid by rascally employers,
they have been in very many cases told to go about their
business, or left to get their claims as they could.”
Such is Tennessee, the most advanced of the States claiming recognition
in the government of the country. Besides this testimony, there is
other derived from its own statute-book. Tennessee refuses to the
colored citizen his right at the ballot-box, and even his right of
testimony in court. I quote from the ignoble statute.
“A negro, mulatto, _Indian_, or person of mixed blood descended
from negro or Indian ancestors, to the third generation
inclusive, though one ancestor of each generation may have been
a white person, whether bond or free, is incapable of being a
witness in any cause, civil or criminal, except for or against
each other.”[34]
I say nothing of Florida and Arkansas, for the special testimony which
has come to me with regard to these States is not at hand. But it is
not needed. The same tragical report proceeds from these States also.
But, even without any report, all this must be inferred. How could it
be otherwise? Abandoned to themselves, with unchecked power, ancient
slave-masters naturally continue the barbarism in which they have so
long excelled.
* * * * *
Mr. President, I bring this plain story to a close. I regret that I
have been constrained to present it. I wish it were otherwise. But
I should fail in duty, did I fail to speak. Not in anger, not in
vengeance, not in harshness, have I spoken, but solemnly, carefully,
for the sake of my country and humanity, that peace and reconciliation
may again prevail. I have spoken especially for the loyal citizens
now trodden down by Rebel power, and without representation on this
floor. Would that my voice could help them to security and justice!
I can only state the case. It is for you to decide. It is for you to
determine how long these things shall continue to shock mankind. You
have before you the actual condition of the Rebel region. You have
heard the terrible testimony. The blood curdles at the thought of such
enormities, and especially at the thought that the poor freedmen, to
whom we owe protection, are left to the unrestrained will of such
a people, smarting with defeat, and ready to wreak vengeance upon
these representatives of a true loyalty. In the name of God, let
us protect them. Insist upon guaranties. Pass the bill now under
consideration,--pass any bill,--but do not let this crying injustice
rage any longer. An avenging God cannot sleep while such things find
countenance. If you are not ready to be the Moses of an oppressed
people, do not become its Pharaoh.
Mr. Saulsbury, of Delaware, followed Mr. Sumner. Then came Mr.
Cowan, of Pennsylvania, who said he was “not disposed to allow
the speech of the honorable Senator from Massachusetts to go
to the country without a very brief reply. If that speech be
true, and if it be a correct picture of the South, then God
help us! then this Republic, this Union, is at an end.” He then
vindicated President Johnson and General Grant against the
charge of “whitewashing,” quoting passages from them. In the
course of his speech, he said:--
“If the honorable Senator from Massachusetts, and those who
think with him, desire that these people should have the
right of suffrage, why not say so broadly?”
MR. SUMNER. I do say so.
MR. COWAN. Very well; that is so much that is clear. Make
it broadly; we may differ from him, but the people will
decide.
Here again was issue joined on the great political question
which awaited judgment.
The debate continued another day, but after that Mr. Wilson’s
bill was never resumed. The object proposed was accomplished by
other measures.
THE WHITES _vs._ COLORED SUFFRAGE IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.
REMARKS IN THE SENATE, ON PRESENTING A PETITION FROM CITIZENS OF THE
DISTRICT, DECEMBER 21, 1865.
I offer a petition of citizens of the District of Columbia, similar to
petitions presented by me yesterday, calling upon Congress to provide
irreversible guaranties in the work of Reconstruction, so that there
shall be such security for the future, and, among such guaranties,
proposing the enfranchisement of the colored race.
Sir, I am glad to present this petition from citizens of the District,
because it shows that there are good people here who are not entirely
indifferent to the great cause of Equal Rights. I am more disposed to
make this remark because I see notice of a public meeting of whites
here in the hope of arresting this cause. The whites can meet, if
they please, and such a meeting, called under such auspices, may vote
to continue their unjust pretensions; but any vote by them will be,
under the circumstances, little better than an absurdity. The whites
of the District of Columbia, in respect to the colored people, are no
better than squatters, and those who for generations have squatted on
the rights of others do not quietly give up. But it is our duty to
dispossess them. Hereafter nobody should be allowed to squat on the
rights of others, civil or political.
I move the reference of this petition to the Joint Committee on
Reconstruction.